As we live more openly, people can see that we're not so different. - Cindy Abel

View full sizeRep. Tammy Baldwin, the first openly gay member of the U.S. Senate, features in Cindy Abel's documentary, "Breaking Through." Abel is a graduate of Southeastern Bible College and will present her film at the SHOUT segment of the Sidewalk Film Festival.

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Coming back to Birmingham for the
first time in 30 years to present her documentary, “Breaking Through,” has left writer/director Cindy Abel feeling a
little strange.

“It was a time of pain and struggle for me,” she told AL.com
via phone. “I moved away 30 years ago and hadn’t been back since, but I’m glad
to come back to where my quest started.”

Abel is a native and resident of Georgia, but she attended
Southeastern Bible College in Birmingham and graduated in 1982.

Abel
said that she had struggled with reconciling her religious beliefs and her
identity as a lesbian. During that time, being homosexual or LGBT was widely
condemned, particularly in the religious community, she says.

“I had my first relationship with a woman there but I didn’t
consider it to be gay,” she said. “I didn’t even know what it was.”

Abel makes no secret about being a deeply religious person. Despite
the perception of homosexuality by some in the Christian community, she was
able to come to terms with being both gay and having a spiritual life since her time in Birmingham. She became an LGBT advocate in 1993 and has been active since
then.

Her documentary, “Breaking Through," focuses on politicians throughout the
U.S. who have come out as being gay or lesbian.

But it’s not
necessarily about politics, Abel said. It’s about showing people who she
considers be positive role models who have struggled through challenges and eventually
overcame them.

“Breaking Through” was not only inspired by her own personal
experiences in the LGBT community but by occurrences such as LGBT
youth suicides and bullying. While reports of suicide among LGBT youth are
alarming, this happens not because they’re gay, but because of the reactions of
others to their sexuality, Abel said.

“The thoughts and feelings are awful,” she said. “I remember
the agony of not knowing anybody who was like me. And so with this film I
thought, ‘We can change that.’ We can let people know that they’re not alone.”

With the recent coming out of politicians in Alabama and
elsewhere in the South such as Rep. Patricia Todd, Abel said that the LGBT
community may be seen in a better light.

“I think the more we show people our stories, the more
they’ll get to know us,” she said. “As we live more openly, people can see that
we’re not so different.”

Abel also pointed out other Southern gay politicians,
including Alex Wan, who was featured in “Breaking Through.” Wan was the first
Asian-American on Atlanta’s city council. In the documentary, Wan discusses
particularly painful experiences with being bullied not just for his perceived
homosexuality, but for being Asian as well.

“It was double teasing, with me at least, in my being Asian
and being gay,” he says in the documentary. “And all the bullying
that you hear about, I certainly endured.”

What make the stories of LGBT politicians so striking is
that they reveal a personal and vulnerable side to them, Abel said.

In the
film, Annise Parker, the mayor of Houston, TX, describes the feelings of shame
that she felt as a teenager, even going so far as to reveal that she often cut
herself during that time. In the trailer, she rolls up her left arm sleeve to
show several scars that she still bears to this day.

The film also features an interview with the U.S.’s first openly gay senator, Tammy
Baldwin. Baldwin was elected to the House of Representatives in 1999 before she
gained a seat in the senate.

“Early in my coming out process, I really thought that I
would face a choice between being out and pursuing the career of my dreams,” she
says in the trailer.

Abel will present the documentary on Aug. 24 at the Alabama
School of Fine Arts Lecture Hall at 11 a.m. as part of the SHOUT segment of the
Sidewalk Film Festival in Birmingham.

Afterwards she will be present at a Life
& Liberty panel at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute alongside, Todd, D-Birmingham, and Stonewall Democrats President Ralph Young.